Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha said he intends to enter the U.S. Senate race after Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet for the Iran deal.
In an interview Tuesday, the Republican said he would formally announce his bid for the GOP nomination in early October.
Before Bennet’s announcement Friday that he would back the Obama administration’s negotiated agreement, Blaha to make the issue his deciding factor. A yes vote, he would enter. A no vote, he would stand down.
“I drew a line in the sand and I said this is something that is bad for Colorado, it’s bad for America and it’s very bad for Israel,” he said.
“This is one of the seminal issues on foreign policy in the last several decades,” he added.
Blaha’s ability to put significant cash into his own bid is putting him on the GOP map, given that the announced candidates so far have raised little money to challenge Bennet.
In the 2012 campaign, he put about $775,000 into a losing primary bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in the 5th Congressional District.
Blaha is president at , a firm that conducts leadership training for businesses.
Other Republican candidates considering a bid including Aurora theater shooting prosecutor George Brauchler and state Sen. Tim Neville.
In terms of the Iran deal, Blaha said he is not convinced that the negotiations with Iran should have occurred in the first place and he wanted to see “more intense” sanctions.
“It’s really the most horrible decision that could be made,” he said. “It’s a great case of being out negotiated.”
Blaha said the parts of the deal that particularly concerned that inspections at certain Iranian sites could take to occur and that the United Nation’s nuclear inspector would conduct them, not the United States.
In , Bennet cited China and Russia’s unwillingness to return to the negotiations if the U.S. backs out. Also, he said the agreement would give the U.S. more credibility in the future if Iran cheats.
